Broken speaker? Finicky zipper? Anticonsumerist Repair Cafes urge you to
fix it instead of pitch it
[June 08, 2026] By
MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. (AP) — On a drizzly Saturday morning late last month,
the basement of the New Paltz United Methodist Church filled with old
lamps, blunt knives, malfunctioning sound mixers and balky zippers.
About a dozen volunteers welcomed the broken goods and their owners to a
worldwide movement that’s evangelizing new relationships between people
and their things.
Repair Cafes — free events where volunteers with technical know-how help
neighbors fix myriad household items — are part of a new brand of
anticonsumerism that’s trying to offer an alternative to the
mass-produced disposable goods that have dominated the global economy
for the last half-century. Helping fuel that move to repairing, not
buying, are U.S. consumer prices, which climbed sharply again last month
as the war with Iran delivered higher gasoline prices and more pain for
Americans.
After starting in the Netherlands with a single event in 2009, Repair
Cafe has grown into a global nonprofit with more than 59,000 members,
some 4,000 cafes and close to 850,000 items fixed a year.
“We need to change our mindset. We need to change the economy,” Repair
Cafe founder Martine Postma said. “Even if Repair Cafes can’t solve the
problem alone, then still they are a very clear sign that change is
needed on a much higher level.”
Repair Cafes are both a way to fix things and to form community
In New Paltz, a Hudson Valley college town about two hours from New
York, 50 people brought about 85 items to the Repair Cafe: an antique
fan that required rewiring, shirts, pants, jackets, stuffed animals.
There were old family photos that needed restoring and jewelry awaiting
work like restringing beads or replacing clasps.
Repair experts waited behind long cafeteria tables to teach
alternatives, giving people chances to learn that flawed goods aren’t
automatically junk.
“Maybe their initial reason for coming is monetary or sentimental,”
organizer Holly Shader said.
More than that, she added, "it gives people a chance to work together
and extend the life of something. People form relationships.”
The experts on hand fixed 71 of the items, found that four needed more
work and deemed 10 beyond repair. They said they volunteer for the
low-pressure joy of fixing things, with networking as a side benefit.
“I get to come and actually do the work and meet the nice people and
show them how to put something together,” contractor Patrick L. Murphy
said.
Networks touting this new brand of anticonsumerism are growing
The Buy Nothing Project, “right to repair” legislation, and a growing
number of tool libraries also are dedicated to repairing, trading, and
giving instead of buying and selling.
Starting in Washington state in 2013, the Buy Nothing Project maintains
an app and social media presence that links people giving things away
with people nearby who want them — a worldwide network of gift
economies, as described on its Facebook page.
Founder Liesl Clark said the network has expanded to at least 12.5
million people on Facebook, showing a growth rate with the ability to
influence corporate and state behavior.
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Electronic repair coach Dan Casey and his mother Diane Casey work on
a sound-mixing device at a Repair Café in New Paltz, N.Y., May 23,
2026. (AP Photo/Michael Weissenstein)
 “What was a social movement has
really become a safety net for millions of people,” she said.
“People are seeing that you don’t have to go to the Amazons of the
world to get what you might need, there is a robust material culture
in your community.
"We want to change the way that the world consumes.”
The movement “started as a social and economic and environmental
experiment,” she noted.
“There’s going to be a conversation that you have, when you and
someone else are fixing something together," she said. "We’re
finding that we’re crossing a lot of barriers.”
In today's modern, disposable culture, many people have lost the
ability to repair household goods, a skill that was once nearly
universal, said Peter Counter, an engineer who’s studying Repair
Cafes and working on a doctorate at the University for the Creative
Arts in Farnham, England.
“The idea that you can fix your own stuff has receded because the
skills are not being passed down,” he said. “If you want something
fixed, it’s almost certainly cheaper to go buy a new one.”
Community repair is thriving, Counter said, because it is volunteers
who spend their time, making it financially viable even if you need
to buy spare parts.
The “right to repair” movement wants consumers to be empowered to
repair their own products instead of being forced to go to the
manufacturer for tools and instructions. A national campaign pushed
in 2023 for states to consider bills requiring manufacturers to give
access to tools and instructions for both customers and repair
shops. A handful of states have passed legislation.
And around the country, some jurisdictions are hosting tool
libraries that allow people to borrow expensive tools just like
library books.
‘It’s wonderful to see people restoring older things’
In New Paltz, Paula Weinstein, 79, brought in a 1930s-era Hammond
clock and handed it to Bob Morton.
Morton — an 82-year-old former IBM electrical engineer — said he
enjoys using his skills to stay intellectually busy and help people.
“I’ve been blessed to still have a brain,” the grandfather of three
said. “It’s a chance to do something.”
Weinstein added, “It’s wonderful to see people restoring older
things.”
After hours of patient work together, the hands of her clock moved.
“Yes, it’s working!” she shouted. “Oh, my goodness, thank you!”
“I’m glad I stuck with it,” Morton said.
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